Why do Americans get all the cool stuff…
Random Musings December 29th, 2009
It seems like OnLive is going to be released to the general public pretty soon despite all the skepticism towards it. Of course, when I say “general public”, it really means “the American public”. And as I said, there’s a bunch of skepticism as to how well and compelling this will really be. Personally, if I had the chance, I’d sign up for this service on day one. My computers are always so outdated (I’m typing this on a 3 year old iMac now, that takes like 10 seconds to open up Firefox mind you) and I don’t have a console (because my TV doesn’t even have a HDMI input), meaning there’re a bunch of games that I can’t play. Or rather every single game that’s been released within the last year can’t run on my computers. If only I had OnLive, everything would be so much better.
I have to admit I was pretty skeptical about this service when it was first announced, because it sounded too good to be true. Even now there arre people commenting that something like this can’t be fully realised for at least another 10 years. However, after watching the video below, I truly believe something like this is actually going to be possible within the next year or so. Reason being they’ve done so much technical stuff to surpass the current limits, not only that but they’ve also thought about the problems they’re facing from a new perspective.
For example the way OnLive basically works is that the game itself will run on they’re uber fast servers that can even run Cysis at max settings. Then, these computers will process whatever is supposed to be shown on screen, apply a video compression algorithm and what the user ultimately sees on his or her screen is essentially a video of what happened after each of their button presses.
Now such a thing would have been impossible in the pass due to current video compression techniques. Reason being they’re built to make each and every frame of the video look the way it should look. Meaning that if you pause a movie, the frame will show all the details perfectly, since a video is basically a bunch of images displayed one after another so when you pause a movie you’re basically staring at a single picture.
It would have been impossible to use such techniques to conduct live streaming of a video game, because the video would be too damn big. So what they’ve (somehow) done is to use a completely new video compression technique that makes the video look good while it’s in motion, reason being one would never actually “pause” a video game. Thus, while the game itself will look good when it’s playing, if you went and paused the video that’s being streamed to your computer screen, the resulting frame might or might not look good, as there’ll be packet losses along the way and stuff. However, this isn’t a problem at all since the video of the game will never actually be paused, thus solving the problem.
Pure genius honestly.
How do I know all this? From the presentation the CEO of OnLive gave to a group of students at the University of Colombia. It’s 48 minutes long, but it’s really informative about the service itself, and shows you how the many obvious problems they faced were ultimately solvable.
Avatar: Most Awesome Movie Ever
My 2 cents worth December 18th, 2009
So James Cameron’s long awaited film Avatar finally hit my local cinemas yesterday and in my opinion, it lives up to all the hype that had been buzzing around long before the movie was released. For so many reasons.
For those who don’t know what Avatar is, I highly suggest you go wiki it and read up on it. It’s definitely one for the books.
So why is it so awesome? First and foremost is probably the world of Pandora itself.
After watching the movie, it struck me that Avatar in 2009 is similar to what Star Wars was to 1977, except on a much smaller scale. Both universes were the brainchilds of 2 indviduals, James Cameron and George Lucas respectively of course. However, Avatar’s new universe is on a much smaller scale than Star Wars, because while Star Wars literally creates an entire universe, Avatar only depicts a single fictional planet. However, what this movie lacks in breadth, it more than makes up for in it’s depth.
In Star Wars, the universe isn’t very closely explored. Much of what the world is like is left to the audience’s imagination (hence the Extended Universe of books/comics/games/etc.). On the other hand, the world of Pandora is completely fleshed out, every single detail is explored and there are so many little touches that makes Pandora feel like a real place. It’s amazing how much painstaking work the graphics artists had to go through to create each and every frame of the movie, because there’s so much detail in each and every frame of the movie that I kept wishing I could pause the movie in between just to admire a particular scene. Everything from the colours of the jungle, to the creatures to the flora all around is just stunning to look at. Words really can’t describe the beauty of the world of Pandora and you really have to see it to understand the feeling that anyone who watches this movie will get.
Now the 3D technology is just amazing. It’s partly due to the way each frame is designed I guess, because everything just pops in 3D. There’re ambient particles in certain scenes that truly do seem to be floating around right in front of your face, and every time there’s a rear shot of one of the Na’vi, I felt like tugging at their tails. I never thought it’d be possible to create a movie that uses 3D technology that isn’t in the style of a Pixar film, but Cameron really managed to pull it off spectacularly.
Is this the greatest movie ever made? Not really. To me there are pacing issues and the story isn’t that great. The third act of the movie seemed to drag on for ages and I kept wanting the plot to just move along. Yet, even when it was getting slow, I was still in awe the entire time I was watching the screen. The story on the other hand is pretty ‘meh’.
Go see this movie while you have the chance to. Go watch it in the cinemas because that’s the only way to experience it properly, and watch it in 3D. You won’t regret it this one time.
Tags: avatar, james cameron, pandora
Proof that Modern Warfare 2 PC Is A Lazy Console Port
Random Musings November 15th, 2009
Seriously? They didn’t even bother to hide the fact that it was a lazy port? How careless. Maybe that’s why MW2 PC was initially planned to be delayed so that they could go “CTRL + F “Xbox Live”, REPLACE WITH “Steam”. Seems like they forgot to do that unfortunately.
Well, at least they had enough time to take out dedicated server support, lower the player cap on a server, etc. Oh not to forget they had time to add mouse and keyboard support. Very vital.
What the hell Infinity Ward.
Review of Rising Card (iPhone App)
My 2 cents worth, Random Musings, Reviews October 8th, 2009
So I saw the app Rising Card make it to the “What’s Hot” list on the iTunes App Store and thought the description of the application sounded pretty cool. For those who don’t know, Rising Card is a magic application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, created by magician Chris Kenner. For those who dabble a little into magic, you’ll understand what I mean when I say that this guy invented Threefly (coin trick) and the Sybil cut (card flourish). For those who don’t give a crap about magic, meaning the only name you know in magic is David Copperfield, well this guy has been David Copperfield’s executive producer for the last 16 years. Seriously.
Obviously, this guy is no small-time magician. But I still wanted a few opinions on what the app was like or at least a hint as to how it worked (set-up time, difficulty, etc.) but I couldn’t find a single thing about it. Just official video demonstrations about the app which aren’t exactly the most reliable source. Besides, they didn’t even provide much useful information. Regardless, I eventually got it, hoping that it’d be good. Boy was I not disappointed.
For those of you who’re hear searching for the secret to Rising Card app, you’re in the wrong place. I’m not going to give out the secret. I hope no one does. This blog post is more for people who are thinking about getting this app but aren’t quite sure yet.
Anyway, on to the app. For those who don’t know the effect, I’ll briefly describe it here. Spectator thinks of any card (or chooses a card out of a deck, etc.) and tells you. You then take out your iPhone (or iPod Touch), unlock it, open the Rising Card app upon which you should see a hand holding a deck of cards face up. From here, you can either shake it yourself or hand it over to the spectator and tell him to shake your device. Either way, the named card will rise out of the deck.
It’s a really simple effect, but still pretty mind blowing. I’ve been pretty busy with school stuff recently, so I haven’t used this app with a particular routine or with any form of presentation yet (my bad, I know). But I’ve been getting pretty good reactions. Just to be clear, all I do is tell someone to name any card, I then take out my iPod Touch, open the app and hand it to them, tell them to shake it, and they’ll see their card rise out. Simple as that. I’ve gotten all kinds of reaction. A few of them smirked or sat there in (stunned) silence before asking how it was done. Most of them were completely shocked when they saw it rise out of the deck (I did not tell them what to expect beforehand), their jaws just dropped and they stared at me with huge eyes asking how the hell I did it. Then there are those who just freak out when they see the card. One of my friends almost tossed my iPod onto the table as if it were burning him. Not to mention he enquired as to how I did it with a significant number of expletives. All in all, I’ve gotten really good reactions for a trick that I never practiced beforehand and didn’t even bother to add ANY presentation whatsoever to the effect itself (please don’t do that 
)
Anyway there are certain limitations that anyone considering purchasing this application might want to know. First, you have to know the card (either they tell you, or force, or they pick a card and show you, etc. you get my point). One more thing is that really observant spectators might notice something amiss, but whether that happens really comes down to how well you’re able to present the trick. Other than that, I can’t really think of other limitations.
The trick itself is really easy learn and requires little practice to master the moves themselves. How you present it is obviously a different thing altogether. Even if people spot the secret move you’re making, they can take your iPhone and try it out for themselves and even if they copy your actions it won’t work for them (that happened to me once, it’s when I realised how awesome this app is). The sacred rule of magic that states “never do the same trick twice” can actually be bent slightly, at least from my experience. I’ve done this trick five to ten times on one of my friends and she never could figure out how I did it even when I did it in slow motion without any patter. Even for say groups of five people I can do this trick at least twice without them realising how I did it. In fact I’d think doing this trick at least two or more times makes it more effective because then spectators will stop thinking that you somehow set it up the first time. Yes, this trick is that strong.
The unfortunate thing about a magic app on the iPhone is that people automatically think you’re cheating the moment you pull out something that has a computer in it. Even if they don’t figure out the secret to the Rising Card app they’ll just chalk it up as you doing something fishy with a device. Unlike sleight of hand or even gimmicks where their brains just can’t think of any logical explanation for a trick. However, as far as iPhone magic apps go, this is most probably the best one out there right now.
Tags: iphone, review, rising card, secret
Kanye West ain’t too bright
My 2 cents worth, Random Musings September 15th, 2009
So he interrupts Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV awards, being completely disrespectful to her. I’d like to thank him for that. He has created one of the most popular catch phrases/memes for the rest of us to use. I mean, just take for example some of the stuff that’s been coming up:
Pure genius.
Well, now even Obama thinks he’s a jackass. I’m not kidding, he made an off-the-record comment calling Kanye West a jackass. You gotta be pretty screwed up to have the President of the United States think you’re a jackass. And this is just a celebrity we’re talking about here. The President deals with things like terrorists, but he chooses to call Kanye West a jackass. 
“It was just very rude, period,” West added. “I’d like to apologize to her in person.”
So far so good.
Leno brought back the subject of West’s late mother and asked him what she would have thought about the incident. West gave a good 20 seconds of pause before saying “Obviously, I deal with hurt, and so many celebrities, they never take the time off, and I never took the time off, really. I’ve really never taken the time off. It’s been music after music and tour after tour. And I’m just ashamed my hurt caused someone else hurt.”
Wait whut???
“Obviously, I deal with hurt, and so many celebrities, they never take the time off, and I never took the time off, really. I’ve really never taken the time off. It’s been music after music and tour after tour. And I’m just ashamed my hurt caused someone else hurt.”
What in the world is he trying to say?
“I deal with hurt” – err, do you always get stabbed or something?
“and so many celebrities, they never take the time off” – what does that have got to do with this “hurt” you speak of?
“I never took the time off… tour after tour” – therefore… you need to interrupt her speech?
“I’m just ashamed my hurt caused someone else hurt” – WHAT IS THIS “HURT”? Is it a code word?
Video of the interview below:
Tags: kanye west, mtv awards, obama, taylor swift
On the USA Healthcare Reform
My 2 cents worth August 21st, 2009
I’m going to admit I don’t know ALL the details about the new Obama bill. However, I’m getting increasingly furious as I continue to listen to those who oppose this bill even though I’m not even from the USA. Most of the arguments they give are downright ridiculous and in some ways insulting.
Obama VS. Hitler – cutting healthcare expenditure VS Holocaust
First, they compare Obama to Hitler.
I am absolutely appalled by this. Do they have ANY IDEA what Hitler stands for? In case you haven’t heard of people like Anne Frank, Jews back then had to hide in secrecy, for if they were found by the Nazis, THEY WOULD BE KILLED. Many of the people who are against this bill claim that Obama’s cutting of Medicare expenditure by $500 billion over 10 years is the same as him employing Hitler’s “Final Solution” to purge all Jews.
Are they out of their minds?
First, part of this $500 billion that is going to be cut is going to come from reducing inefficiencies within Medicare itself, for example switching to electronic medical records which would facilitate easy sharing of patients’ information. Of course, doing stuff like that isn’t going to save $500 billion, and the funds for medicare will definitely be lesser than previously. BUT, does that mean having lesser funds for healthcare makes Obama another Hitler?
For those who don’t know, back during the 1930s and 1940s, Jews were all thrown into ghettos in Germany where they literally rotted to death. Later, Hitler’s Nazi party went around rounding up Jews as if they were sheep, after which they were separated into two groups of people: those who would go to labour camps, and those who would go to the gas chambers to be “exterminated”. For those who went to the labour camp, nobody cared when they would die. For those who were immediately sent to the gas chambers, they would all be packed into a room until there was absolutely no space in the room, after which the doors were closed and toxic gases were fed into the room. After awhile, the doors would be opened, and all of them would still be in their original standing positions, all packed together.
Only difference? They weren’t breathing anymore.
People are comparing THIS to Obama cutting $500 billion dollars from Medicare.
And let’s not forget the Holocaust isn’t Hitler’s only claim to fame, this following quote not from myself, and I’m not exactly sure whose story it is:
My mom was born in Germany in 1941. When she was 4, a group of SS officers showed up at the front door of a two-story flat where she lived. Two of them went downstairs, and two of them went upstairs where she and her parents were. She watched while an SS officer put a gun to her father’s head and threatened to shoot him on the spot if he didn’t drop everything he was doing, leave his wife, leave his family, leave his job, and “volunteer” to fight in the German army. (Near the end of the war, they were becoming desperate to keep the ranks filled, ultimately making children and old people fight..)
The two SS officers that went into the apartment below theirs did the same thing. In that case, the father in the apartment below theirs was shot in the head, probably for begging not to be taken away from his family.
And to think people dare to show up at protests with a picture of their President photoshopped to look like Adolf Hitler, a man whose atrocities can never be put down in words.
Coming Between Doctor and Patient
Second, there is to be medical review boards that will provide guidelines for doctors on what type of treatment would be appropriate for their patient. Now some people argue that this would prevent doctors from fulfilling the Hipprocratic Oath – putting their patient’s well-being before anything else, because they will have to choose between doing what’s best for their patient and being sued or getting in trouble with the law somehow.
Bulls**t.
First, the guidelines provided are only SUGGESTIONS as to how the doctor COULD go about treating his or her patient. It is NOT a mandate of any sort. There is nothing that is going to come in between the doctor and his or her patient.
Second, are people that naive to think that ALL doctors are doing the best for their patients?
The fact of the matter is that due to the private nature of many pharmaceutical firms and thus their profit driven nature, coupled with certain irresponsible doctors, the patient’s needs are often neglected for profit’s sake. There NEEDS to be something that oversees healthcare in the USA in order to ensure proper healthcare for all its people.
End-of-life planning = “death panels”
Third the whole idea of there being “death panels” which is apparently a panel of “bureaucrats can decide who dies” according to Sarah Palin. In essence , it encourages senior citizens to kick the bucket earlier?
People who suggest this have got to be illiterate, or they are willing to take Sarah Palin’s words for it (which is probably even worse than being illiterate).
What the bill actually does is pay doctors for voluntary consulting sessions with older patients to discuss end-of-life issues which include stuff like living wills, learning about hospices as an option for the terminally ill, facilitating emotional expression, allow doctors to appreciate the psychological state and the suffering which their patient is going through, etc. Because let’s face it, we’re all eventually going to die, and this bill incentivises doctors to assist patients in making plans for this eventuality.
Where in the world does it promote stuff like mercy killing or euthanasia? In fact, it would block funds for counselling that presents assisted suicide as an option for patients.
Oh and let’s not forget to mention that back in 2003 or 2004, the Republicans were in favour of a similar proposal which would help senior citizens pay for end-of-life counselling. But now that the same thing is being proposed, it suddenly becomes “death panels”.
Sheesh…
Start Being Rational… PLEASE
In my opinion, people who are busy shouting and screaming at those town hall meetings really need to start educating themselves about what everything here really means. Also, they should probably learn to not have the patience of a 10 year old, because they’re screaming questions at Representatives and Senators without even giving them the chance to answer their questions before continuing to shout. There are times when the speaker will simply tell them that they are misinformed about a certain portion of the bill, explain to them what that part of the bill is really about, and they just continue shouting.
I do wonder how this whole fiasco is going to end…
Tags: bill, death panel, healthcare, obama, reform
I want a PS3 just for Fat Princess
Random Musings August 4th, 2009
Games like Killzone 2, Gears of War, Halo, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, etc. are often touted as “games that sell consoles”. They are supposedly so amazing, both graphically as well as gameplay wise, that they’re supposed to convince people to buy one console or the other just to play these exclusive titles. The production values for such triple-A titles are even comparable with that of big-budget films, with voice-actors having to rehearse their lines multiple times, designers and animators making everything look as realistic as possible, programmers making turning all that into action-packed gameplay. Not to mention plenty of these titles easily have budgets that hit 8 digits (Killzone 2 had a budget of over US$40 million).
Yet the game that really makes me want to buy a PS3 is a little downloadable game on the Playstation Network called Fat Princess.
So simple, yet so fun
Released just 2 weeks ago, the game has been receiving rave reviews all around, being praised for its unique cartoon-ish style, team-based gameplay, and most importantly simply being a game that’s really really fun to play. For those who don’t know, Fat Princess gives you kind of a top-down/isometric view of the battlefield, with online multiplayer that supports up to 32 players. You can switch to any of the 5 classes on the fly by simply choosing what hat to wear at your base. The goal of the game is kind of like a traditional CTF match, except in this case the “flag” you’ve got to bring back is really (as the name implies) a fat princess. The catch is that by feeding your own princess more cake, she gets fatter and thus your opponents move slower when carrying her, making it harder for them to capture her.
Why DotA is so damn popular
I’ve had my eyes on this game since it was first revealed at E3 2008, it instantly caught my attention thanks to its simple gameplay, yet extremely charming style. The thing that really won me over? Team-based gameplay. As any gamer who has played CTF matches in any FPS game will tell you, impeccable teamwork is of utmost importance if you want to succeed. Furthermore, the simple top-down view really nails it for me, because there’s just nothing more satisfying than watching your teammates running along right beside you as you all work towards the same goal. Thinking about it, this is probably what makes DotA so popular here in Asia:
- Simple objectives
- Team-based play with an eagle’s eye view of the battlefield
It’s the same case with Fat Princess. It’s just so satisfying to successfully complete a mission with your friends.
Why oh why aren’t there more games like that…
It’s a real pity more developers don’t make games like that. The only other game I can think of which has similar components is another small, overlooked game called “Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia”. It was simply a co-op game for up to 4 people where each character had a gun or two and you ran around shooting monsters up (with a top-down perspective of course). It just seemed so much fun to me, but unfortunately the PC port of the game was so bad that it rendered the game unplayable for me, which was a real pity.
If only…
If only more developers would create games with simple objectives, team-based gameplay, and a top-down view of the battlefield.
Or if only I had enough cash to buy a PS3…
Tags: fat princes, fat princess, playstaion 3, ps3, psn
So I’ve just finished watching an entire cartoon series…
Random Musings August 1st, 2009
It’s been long since I’ve updated here, I kinda lost the mood to write/blog for quite some time. Hope it doesn’t stay that way though.
Of course, the thing that’s been taking up most of my time over the past week or so has been Avatar: The Last Airbender. I just finished plowing through all 3 seasons which amounts to about 60 episodes. In retrospect, it’s pretty amazing that I actually watched the ENTIRE series in the first place, considering how I almost never finish watching ANY TV series in the first place, let alone a cartoon show.
I started watching Avatar after the show was repeatedly recommended by the hosts of the Totally Rad Show, and I thought I’d give it a shot. I heard about the show in the past, but paid little attention to it since it was a cartoon. That was until Dan made a really bold statement: “It’s as good as Star Wars”. I could hardly ignore it after hearing that.
Now, here I am, 60 episodes later, thinking that it isn’t exactly as good as Star Wars. In fact, I desperately wished this show wasn’t a cartoon aimed at children, but a more adult series. Because in a show where the main premise is that there are four nations at war, all of which have special powers to control the elements of fire, water, earth and air which they use to fight each other, the show is a lot less satisfying when not a SINGLE person in the entire series actually explicitly dies. I mean for crying out loud, there’s a fight scene in almost every single episode, yet no one ever dies. It just feels really weird to me…
Of course, a movie based on the show is in the works, due for release next year. But seriously, when you have a show that draws most of it’s inspiration from ancient Chinese culture, why in the world did the director (M. Night Shyamalan) cast every single role to a white kid? Even the main character, who’s a bald, Chinese monk, is played by a white kid? Seriously?
Besides that, from what I’ve seen thus far, The Last Airbender isn’t exactly shaping up to be a blockbuster movie. All the pictures I’ve seen of the filming thus far look really bad. Everything just doesn’t look and feel the way it’s supposed to be. Of course, all the footage that’s been released thus far has merely been a teaser trailer, and things could change a lot in a year of production, but I’m pretty nervous as to how the movie is going to turn out.
That being said, the TV series is probably one of the greatest stories ever told. The characters are all really well thought out and developed, and I really felt attached to every single one of them. The twists in the story are pretty cool and unexpected, and you’re always wondering what’s going to happen next. By the time you reach the third season, it’s like reading the last 200 pages of a Harry Potter book, you just don’t want to stop.
Tags: avatar, nickelodeon
Talk about power to the people!
Interesting developments, Random Musings June 22nd, 2009
Or in this case power to the students…
In light of the ever increasing number of H1N1 cases in Singapore, Channelnews Asia is holding a poll on its site, asking what schools should do in such a situation.
The results are… staggering.
Most of the 30K people who voted for holidays to be extended must have been students (including me).
I even got a chain SMS asking me to go to the site to vote in the poll. Whoever started it must be dreaming if he thinks a CNA poll has effect on governmental policies.
But of course, here’s hoping it does affect governmental policies… *crosses fingers*
For those who wanna vote in the poll, it’s located at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/index.htm
Why I love Project Natal
My 2 cents worth June 15th, 2009
Honestly, there’s been so much hate going around about Natal, Microsoft’s 3D motion capturing system. Gamers are dismissing it as being gimmicky again, calling the Milo demonstration fake, etc. Before I go on to why I actually really love Natal, let me first discuss some of the criticism levelled against Natal.
Rebuttals
Gamers complain it’ll be too gimmicky. Fine, don’t use it then. It’s not like anyone’s forcing you to drop your controllers and get off your lazy ass to move about. But besides that, let me throw this question at you: Which motion controller isn’t going to seem “gimmicky”? The Wii’s been viewed as a gimmick since… forever, but it’s still pwning the other 2 consoles in terms of number of units moved. The kinds of stuff possible with Natal (at least the kind of stuff Mircosoft promises in its promo video) completely changes the landscape of games development.
Yes I know it isn’t true 1-to-1 motion capture as compared to the Playstation’s Blue Ball thingy, but come on, this thing hasn’t even hit the market yet. It’s still very much in development, and as technology improves we’ll (hopefully) one day see Natal have true 1-to-1 motion capture without you having to hold a single thing in your hand.
Also, let’s face it. Microsoft can throw a controller in if ever necessary for a particular game to have buttons, it’s not like Microsoft is going to restrict the gamer to ONLY using their body. The difference is that a controller won’t be compulsory for gaming like it always has been since… forever.
Now for the biggest argument against Project Natal: IT’S FAKE.
First, we’ve got an article claiming that the Milo demonstration video was fake because of the awkward positioning of “Claire’s” hands on screen as well as the fact that a ripple started in the virtual water before Claire started moving her hands. I’ve honestly re-watched that same exact few seconds at least 10 times over and honestly can’t notice that fact. To me, that article was just trying to diss Natal for the sake of it.
But besides that, has anyone bothered to consider WHY IN THE WORLD MICROSOFT WOULD BOTHER TO FAKE THE MILO DEMONSTRATION VIDEO? Here’re a few rebuttals:
- The part of the Milo video that was supposedly fake had to do with the motion capture. But there was NO other point in the “playing with water” scene where there were problems. But oh no, that split second couldn’t have been a glitch or a slight bug seeing as how the entire thing’s still a prototype, the entire video HAD to be fake.
- Besides, Microsoft demo-ed the motion capturing part of Natal live on stage with Ricochet, so why would they fake it in a video?!
- The most important point: THEY DEMO-ED IT TO A SELECT NUMBER OF PEOPLE. Why would they want to fake something, then open it up to others to come try it out?!
Not to mention Natal has actually received really positive feedback from some reputable gaming sites like IGN which simply said that Natal “works”. IGN even praised the build of Burnout that was developed to work with Natal and how it actually worked pretty smoothly. Oh and Milo isn’t fake at all according to them, he actually managed to make Milo laugh after telling him a joke. The only really negative feedback I’ve read about was from a PS3 site… need I say more?
RPG full of Milo-like NPCs
Now let me sidetrack here and fantasise for a moment. If we can have a character as realistic as Milo now whom you can interact with simply by talking. Imagine, less than 10 years down the road we could actually have an entire RPG game full of millions of characters as interactive as Milo whom you could walk around and talk to instead of simply going up to them and hitting “A”.
But let’s all assume Natal actually sucks for games, there’s a whole area people aren’t thinking about:
What if Natal was implemented as a system.
There’re 3 parts in the Natal promo video I’m referring to:
- the part where 2 girls have a video conference over a dress
- the part where the dude scans in his skateboard
- the final part where a girl waves her hands in the air to choose the movie to watch.
Now…
- facial recognition, video conferencing, selecting the dress and being able to try it on a virtual model of yourself?
- That not enough? How about scanning virtually anything in and having it become an interactive object?
- The last part is so simple in itself yet so mind blowing that I don’t even know what to say about it… you control your TV by waving your hands. That’s like having magical powers for crying out loud.
Virtual butler at your service
We are THIS close to having Tony Stark’s computer “butler” Jarvis in our homes with such technology. All you gotta do is install speakers and sensors all around your home and make use of Natal accordingly and there you go. Jarvis can recognise each and every person in the house, for example by using cameras to judge the outline of your body and the silhouette it casts depending on the angle of the camera.
You can ask him practically anything with Milo’s “AI”. For example simple stuff like “What time is it?” or “Lock the door please”. You could even go “Help pass the message to Mom that I’m doing my school project up here please.” and Jarvis could search through the entire house with the cameras to find where Mom is and play back the message only using the speakers in that vicinity. Oh and Natal also has voice recognition (not just the words, but who the voice belongs to) so Jarvis will know who’s saying what at all times.
If you’re alone at home, you could make a phone call while walking around the entire house since there’ll be microphones everywhere and the opposite party’s voice will just play out of the speakers in the vicinity of wherever you’re walking since Jarvis can keep track of your movements.
Oh if you’re too lazy to open your mouth to switch on the lights, how bout just waving your hands in a certain gesture or something? Switching TV channels or radio stations by flicking your wrist. Maybe adjusting your fan speed by raising or lowering your hand? In fact, if you bother to install motors around your house, you could wave your hand and have ANYTHING happen. Close your door, draw the curtains, open drawers, etc. The possibilities are pretty much endless.
If only…
Of course, all this Jarvis stuff is pretty far off. It all depends on whether Microsoft actually delivers everything it has promised in the promo video for Natal. Some of the stuff probably isn’t even possible just with Natal’s technology. There’s also the problem of security of course, that someone could somehow hack into Jarvis and track your every movement. But as long as Jarvis is not connected to the internet at all times it helps quite a bit, then someone would have to hack into the internal network of Jarvis (eg. the signals a camera sends to the CPU), but IF everything was completely hardwired this probably wouldn’t be a problem at all.
As you can see, right now everything is an IF. But let me just say that I never expected to see a system like this in place in my lifetime, and I’m only 17. Now, with Natal, this might just be possible within the next 10 years.
Here’s hoping for a Jarvis system in my house.
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